Last week in Siem Reap

The plan of Christ isn't dependent on having the right programs or on hiring the right professionals, but on building and being the right people - a community of people, who realize we are all enabled and equipped to carry out the purpose of God for our lives."                                                                                     David Platt, Radical

While there were moments in Cambodia where we weren't sure what our purpose was, we knew that God was clear this was the place and time that we were supposed to be in Siem Reap.  Sometimes it seems bizarre to think that we've been called to show up and serve, we can wonder what we have to offer as our skill set is such a hodge-podge of passions and abilities, and our family dynamics can make it a challenge.  But time and time again, we were pleasantly surprised at how God uses obedience to open doors and allows us to see Him working through us, even when we don't seemingly have our act together or a plan, but are simply willing to be present and let Him use us.  We've been humbled and in awe at how our time in Siem Reap has played out and the connections we made and things we have learned.

On New Years eve Dad & boys headed out to teach Bible school at the floating village. SJ was the latest to cave to the stomach bug that had been ravaging our family as she started throwing up in the middle of the night, so the girls stayed home. This would mark 4 nights in a row where we (primarily mom) was up in the middle in the night. She would battle the yuck for a few days but ultimately be the last of us to deal with it, thus confirming that our middle son officially has the strongest stomach!

At the floating school the boys told the story of Joseph and his brothers with a translator who had graduated through the program and now feverishly works to help the next generation of kids. It was his first time playing the role of translator and he was quite nervous but did a great job being stretched in this role. After the story, we then had two teams who "mummy wrapped" a student in toilet paper - such joy was infectious to see and yet humbling as afterwards the kids excitedly collected the toilet paper so they could bring it all home as that is not something their families have. Not a scrap was left.

Students watching the "mummy race"

"Mummy wrapping" after teaching story of Joseph

Finished "mummy"

"School bus" at floating village

Lunch break at floating school

Monks along the river on way to floating school

After this we just laid low on New Years Day hanging around the hotel until dinner where we surprised the kids with a Swiss restaurant that had fondue - a family holiday tradition which we were thrilled to keep alive as so many were difficult to accomplish this year. Traffic and people were everywhere during New Years Eve as Siem Reap is a hot spot for other Asians (especially the Chinese) to come and party. A ten minute drive took an hour but it was fun to see the city lit up and busy. If we had had more energy we would have ventured to the busy area of town, but having all been sick and on limited sleep we headed back to the hotel where we struggled, but managed, to stay awake until midnight. Mom and dad were asleep at about 12:05.

"Lip gloss" girls! with a photo bomber in Motor-taxi

The next morning we were able to Facetime with Grandma & Grandpa and also chime into our community group's annual New Year's party which we have traditionally hosted. This was fun to see some of the crew and chat a little bit even if Facetime isn't ideal for catching up. We certainly miss so many things around the holidays and are sort of relieved to see them pass by as it was just hard to be away during that time, missing out on so many of our family traditions.

On New Years Day the boys attended a Bokatar class that we signed up for as a Christmas gift. Bokatar is an ancient art that the Khmer Empire used to dominate its neighbors a thousand years ago. It is not as much of a competition style of fighting (though they do have them), as much as it is a "crush thy enemy" sort of thing, which we didn't fully realize until prior to class.  Whose idea was it to have three energetic boys learn these skills and then keep them cooped up in a hotel room?  They guys enjoyed this experience and trying something unique.  Of course after this brilliant idea, they all came back to hotel pounding on one another and eager to try their new moves, so we headed to the pool to practice safely.

Bokator class

Flying knee meant to crush the skull move

Practice makes perfect

New Year's evening we met all the missionaries and their families at a traditional dance place for dinner as everyone was back in town from their travels. It was fun to sample many Cambodian foods at the buffet and see some of the traditional dance that Cambodia is known for, but we spent more time chatting than watching.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we had a picnic with the missionaries and enjoyed getting to know them and learn more about their lives and work here. We played some American football, went for a walk, and tried sugar cane for the first time. Later we came back to the pool for a bit and then ran some errands to gather supplies for our week ahead at the Dream Center.  That evening we headed down to "Pub Street" where we were able to eat at a Mexican restaurant that was delicious.

Our Cambodian crew strolling around a temple ruins

Sugar cane

Dareth showing us how to eat sugar cane

Eating raw sugar cane - a treat for our sugar-freak son

Pub Street is popular evening place to eat and hang out in Siem Reap

On Sunday we were able to attend worship again at the Dream Center with Dareth giving the message. The service was in Khmer so we didn't understand much but were able to do communion during the service which was a treat. They sang a beautiful worship song with the lyrics translated to English on an overhead Power Point, "the God on who I am waiting is the Lord of the Universe.  The God on who I am waiting is the King of Glory," it was SO good!

After the service we decided to hang around a while and teach the kids the basketball game "lightning."  It was quite comical to watch the boys try to do this with with the language barrier. The kids never fully understood it, but we had fun watching them all try to figure it out. Also after church Dareth gave our oldest a Praying Mantis, which he became a bit obsessed with and even took it back to our hotel for the remainder of our stay in Cambodia!

Introducing Lightning to kids

A buddy of our oldest

A Praying Mantis became a pet for a while

On the 3rd, we attended the Phare Circus performance, which teaches local kids circus and musical arts. It was a one hour show and the acrobatics were exciting to watch. The tricks were set in a play format where a story was being told as they performed. Unfortunately the play itself was a lot about deception and how to use it to get ahead in life. This was unfortunate in our eyes as there could have been so many better stories which promote higher moral qualities.

Circus theatrics

SJ and the circus girls

Our last two days were jammed packed with many art classes taught by mom and expertly assisted by the rest of the crew. The first day was working on drawing the human body with proper perspective and foreshadowing while tying in the story of the Prodigal Son.  Our oldest son used his skills to teach one-point perspective and the students really enjoyed learning from him.  He and Mom woke up early and taught the 7am classes, and the first day they stayed after a bit to play volleyball with some of the kids.  They also had the privilege of taking a handful of the guys to get a special treat nearby.  However there were a few snafus and they ended up needing one of the helpers at the Dream Center to meet up with them.  It just so happened that she drives a scooter and let our oldest drive it back to the Dream Center!

G posing for art class

Mom and son posing for Prodigal Son reenactment

Our oldest son taught 1 point perspective to the students

G and Samuel really enjoyed each other - from drawing to battling!

SJ teaching Pauline how to draw

Group of guys having a special treat

Watch out - look who's driving!

The second day was Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night, working with oil pastels. The whole family marveled at just how good mom is at teaching, and the students loved these classes while really having a fun time. Not only is access to unique art supplies exciting but mom's breakdown of these concepts into simple tasks built their confidence a great deal -and these kids love to draw and are quite skilled.  We imagine art is therapeutic for them. Our friend Pam furiously took notes with hopes to expand the school's art program in the future.

Mom & the class of oldest students

Whenever we hung out at the Dream Center, SJ was able to have a blast playing with the son and daughter of So-pi and she enjoyed their toys and riding bikes. For the most part she was able to just roam and it was a pleasure to watch her interact and even play with toys (which she doesn't have on our travels). When it was finally time to go she cried and cried about saying goodbye and her friend, Pauline, really didn't understand it.

SJ & Pauline

Hard to say goodbye - check out look from Pauline

Sweet magnet given to one of our sons :)

Playing at the Dream Center

Hard to say good bye

One of our goals while here was to visit the Landmine Museum which is supposed to be quite fascinating. Realizing that we were running out of days, we opted to try this in between art classes on our last day. Little did we know that the museum had moved and was about 45 minutes out of town and would require an hour and half ride back to the school (we didn't know this until we got there). By the time this was discovered, we had only about 20 minutes to view the displays before we had to hop back in our motor taxi to start the journey back to the school for the afternoon session. It was a fascinating museum of mines that a former child soldier has collected over the years, as he's dedicated his life to helping victim's of landmine explosions, as there are still many undetonated after the war - without any rhyme or reason as to where they were placed and no maps to keep track.

On our long ride back to the school we joked about this being our "3 hour tour" in a motor taxi and how it was longer than the flight we would take to Vietnam the next day.  We tried our best to enjoy the countryside and everything about Cambodia as we processed all that our time here has included.  Meanwhile we were covered in a film of dirt and getting bumped around and settling arguments among children in a tight space. Oh well....

All in all, we loved Cambodia. We had 17 nights in the country with all but two (when we went to Phom Phen) being spent in Siem Reap. The country is truly beautiful as rice fields make everything green like one might imagine Ireland, which is vibrant against the red soil. The people are warm and friendly and most have some knowledge of English, making getting things done fairly simple. The dollar is the main currency with Cambodian Riel only being used for change less than $1, although its actually paper as there are no coins. Most meals cost about $5 and ALL our laundry can be done for about $6-7.

We were very blessed to be able to assist two sets of missionaries as meeting Dareth and Thida Ly (website link) and John and Pam was a real treat. What these guys do day in and day out is truly inspiring and our kids felt they could move to Cambodia (which is saying a lot). God's use of the Lys in this area is nothing short of astounding and yet they remain humble beyond reproach. In their line of work, they are sort of legends-or so we have been told.

Our oldest wants to return on his own in a few years during his summer break and also plans on using his own money to sponsor a buddy at the Dream Center. Everyone could have stayed longer and was a little sad to leave - maybe that is the best way to exit? But we are off to Vietnam for ten days with our first 3 being a bit of a rural adventure for which we are excited.

Myon, our main server at hotel was always waiting with a smile & hug for SJ